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Powell was born on June 16, 1956 in Jonesboro, Arkansas. His parents were Carl and Bettie Powell, and he had three brothers, two older and one younger. At the age of three, the family moved to Sheffield, Alabama, where Carl opened up his own wholesale electronic parts company. Powell attended Blake Elementary School, located in Sheffield, Alabama. When he was eight, his grandmother dragged him to nearby Tuscumbia, Alabama, the birthplace of Helen Keller, where he auditioned for the part of a black boy in the annual Miracle Worker Production. However, since it was the first year the show was integrated, Powell didn't get the part.

Starting with the sixth grade, Powell attended Mars Hill Bible School, a private Christian school run by a fundamentalist sect called the Church of Christ, known for being extremely strict. At Mars Hill, Powell received several years of a capella voice training. Originally, his parents had plans for him to become a preacher, and he preached his first sermon when he was eight. However, Powell had seen a live production of The Music Man and decided that he wanted to practice in playing the stuttering kid. From the ages of fourteen to seventeen, he played bass guitar in a rock-and-roll band, being joined by some other boys from Mars Hill.

After having an argument with his father, Powell left Mars Hill after his junior year and went to a public school, from which he graduated in 1974. Afterwards, his father gave him two choices, both of which were to attend one of two Christian colleges and major in Bible and minor in business. He would then either come back to work for him or become a minister. Powell turned both options down, and after taking a three-month hitchhiking adventure, he returned to Florence, Alabama. There, he paid for his own education at the University of North Alabama and majored in psychology. In his second year, a friend of his suggested acquiring an easy arts credit in the theater lab.

One night, Powell was working on a set piece when he was approached by the director, who asked if he could sing or act, as he needed a "freaky-looking guy" to portray the illiterate Bible salesman in Inherit the Wind. Powell took the part, and for the next few years, he went to every audition he could find and got parts in almost all of them. He also began taking theater classes casually. During his junior year of college, Powell was informed that he only needed three more hours for a theater major. As a result, he ended up tackling a fifth year and double majoring in English and drama. He took the first graduate assistant position that was offered to him. He subsequently moved to the University of Mississippi, where he began working as an MFA Directing Candidate in Theater. Because of this, Powell had to perform in every main stage production that came up and had to produce and direct one of his own per semester.

The workload wore him down and, at the end of the third semester, a friend of his from UNA asked Powell if he could be a lighting designer specializing in rock-and-roll concerts. He accepted the offer and left to work in many locations in the Southeast. Powell quickly found that the lighting gig was not a profitable job and he spent a lot of time occupying motel rooms. Powell subsequently went back to the university for another year. Six hours short of his MFA, he again abandoned his workload to go to New York, where he found work at the marketing division for Playboy. Through this job, Powell produced and directed promotions for spring break in beach resorts for a period of six months, added with work from other marketing companies that he got during the next six years.

Powell managed to get the part of Private Jim White in a low-budget sci-fi movie called What Waits Below. After playing the role and gaining earnings from the film, he joined SAG and moved to Nashville, Tennessee. There, he shared a house with four other men from Florence, Alabama, all of whom he was familiar with. He also booked several jobs in commercials, joined AFTRA, got his equity card, and became a regular performer at the Tennessee Repertory Company. For his day jobs, Powell became a tour guide for the Guinness Hall of World Records on Music Row, booked a number of performers for a singing telegram service, and continued to do spring break promos for various advertising and marketing companies. He also met his future wife, Elizabeth, during this time.

Powell often went to Atlanta to attend auditions. Through one such audition, he was cast in a Disney Feature called Goodbye, Miss 4th of Jul. While living in Nashville, a friend, who moved to Orlando, Florida, in the early 80s, began sending Powell newspaper clippings describing the increasingly prominent film industry and describing Orlando as "the new LA". In 1987, the Powell family sold their home and moved to Orlando. There, Powell signed on with a few agents, but initially got very few calls. He later got a break in the form of Superboy, Super Force, and regular commercial gigs. He also frequently returned to Atlanta, where he did portrayed roles in Silent Victim and Class of '61. In addition, Powell began working at the Caldwell Theater in Boca Raton in the play The Importance of Being Ernest. It was there that Lori Wyman, who at the time was casting for Miami Vice, came backstage and asked him for a resume. She then invited him to read for the show, and after doing so, Powell quickly booked a part on Miami Vice.